Sweeney out, so Bradley, Carp make the team_BINARY_947220

No formal announcement was made, but Ryan Sweeney was told late Thursday night that he would not be added to the 40-man roster, allowing him to trigger an opt-out in his contract. The team had faced a deadline of midnight Thursday to add him to the r

No formal announcement was made, but Ryan Sweeney was told late Thursday night that he would not be added to the 40-man roster, allowing him to trigger an opt-out in his contract. The team had faced a deadline of midnight Thursday to add him to the roster.

"I'm the odd man out," Sweeney said.

That would appear to leave the final two spots on the Red Sox roster to Mike Carp and phenom Jackie Bradley Jr., bringing to an end weeks of speculation about whether the Red Sox were willing to take Bradley north with them on Opening Day.

Bradley pleaded ignorance when approached by reporters. He said he didn't even know how the process of being told his fate would work. But with Sweeney having just come out of a meeting with manager John Farrell, it was likely that Bradley was next in line.

The other beneficiary of the decision about Sweeney was Carp, whose presence on the bench provides insurance at first base behind Mike Napoli and outfielder-turned-first baseman Daniel Nava.

But the big story is Bradley, a supplemental first-round draft pick two years ago who took the Grapefruit League by storm. After an RBI single in the eighth inning on Thursday night, Bradley is hitting .441 with a .521 on-base percentage in 71 plate appearances.

Farrell made no announcement immediately after the game Thursday. Before the game, however, he said nothing that indicated Bradley was going anywhere but the major leagues.

"We've allowed him to go this deep into camp, so we're not afraid and not unwilling to break with him," Red Sox manager John Farrell said. "If that was the case, we would have sent him out four weeks ago."

Even more important than his eye-popping statistics has been the approach he's shown at the plate.

"One at-bat that stands out to me is the other day up against (Baltimore reliever Pedro) Strop," Farrell said. "He gets down two strikes. He takes two splitfingered fastballs that are major-league-quality pitches. He gets back in the count -- and there's a two-run single. When you look at the consistency of controlling the strike zone, getting himself into good hitter's counts and what he does in those situations, that goes beyond the overall batting average."

The Red Sox made their decision on the same night Aaron Hicks and the Minnesota Twins came to JetBlue Park. Minnesota general manager Terry Ryan made the same decision with Hicks -- putting him on the roster even though sending him down would push back his eligibility for free agency down the road -- as the Red Sox have with Bradley.

"It's just a matter of (Hicks) winning the job -- which he did," Ryan said. "It was simple. He made it easy. It wasn't anything more than a guy going out there and performing, which he did. If he didn't, he'd go back to Triple-A. It's not that complicated, really."

Unlike Bradley, Hicks was on the Twins' 40-man roster. The Red Sox have to make room for Bradley on the 40-man roster before they can add him to the 25-man roster. With Carp making the team, Mauro Gomez seems like the most likely candidate to be designated for assignment.

Would the decision have been more complicated for Minnesota had Hicks not been on the roster?

"That would have complicated it a little different, yes, it would have," Ryan said, "because then you have to create space. But he's on the roster, and he made it easy for us. He's had a wonderful spring -- just exactly what we were hoping to see."

So too did Bradley.

The Red Sox could have secured control over Bradley for the 2019 season by sending him down to the minor leagues for the first nine games of the season. But 2019 is a long time from now.

"We can't control tomorrow, let along six years from now," Farrell said.